The (Tongue-in-Cheek) Case for Taxing Tall People More

Two Harvard economists suggest in a recent paper that people over six-feet tall should pay more in taxes and that short people (listen up Randy Newman and Robert Reich) should receive tax credits.

Now, don't expect N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew Weinzierl to prowl the halls of Congress peddling this idea. But they do offer it as an illustration of what they see as inconsistencies in our method of determining "income tax." In practice, they note, much more than income goes into figuring our liability including such variables as marital status, mortgage interest payments, health expenses, and charitable contributions.

Using this line of logic, the researchers find another variable that correlates with income. It turns out that taller people make more income, so should be taxed more, according to Mankiw and Weinzierl. Specifically, a tall taxpaer making $50,000 should pay $4,500 more in taxes than a short person earning the same income.

"One thing is clear -- if a person rejects the policy of a tax on height, he must also reject, or significantly amend, the standard utilitarian approach to optimal taxation and income redistribution," which is the basis of our current tax system, the authors write on Vox.